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Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 58 из 147Hordes of young people come down to it in the summer, and of course all the rooms have been cut up and partitioned into cubicles, and the grounds have been altered a good deal.’
‘You must reconstruct it for me by your explanations.’
‘I’ll do my best. I wish you could have seen it in the old days. It was one of the loveliest properties I know.’
He led the way out through the window and began walking down a slope of lawn.
‘Who was responsible for selling it?’
‘The executors on behalf of the child. Everything Crale had came to her. He hadn’t made a will, so I imagine that it would be divided automatically between his wife and the child. Caroline’s will left what she had to the child also.’
‘Nothing to her half-sister?’
‘Angela had a certain amount of money of her own left her by her father.’
Poirot nodded. ‘I see.’
Then he uttered an exclamation:
‘But where is it that you take me? This is the seashore ahead of us!’
‘Ah, I must explain our geography to you. You’ll see for yourself in a minute. There’s a creek, you see, Camel Creek, they call it, runs inland-looks almost like a river mouth, but it isn’t-it’s just sea. To get to Alderbury by land you have to go right inland and round the creek, but the shortest way from one house to the other is to row across this narrow bit of the creek. Alderbury is just opposite-there, you can see the house through the trees.’
They had come out on a little beach. Opposite them was a wooded headland and a white house could just be distinguished high up amongst the trees.
Two boats were drawn up on the beach. Meredith Blake, with Poirot’s somewhat awkward assistance, dragged one of them down to the water and presently they were rowing across to the other side.
‘We always went this way in the old days,’ Meredith explained. ‘Unless, of course, there was a storm or it was raining, and then we’d take the car. But it’s nearly three miles if you go round that way.’
He ran the boat neatly alongside a stone quay on the other side. He cast a disparaging eye on a collection of wooden huts and some concrete terraces.
‘All new, this. Used to be a boathouse-tumbledown old place-and nothing else. And one walked along the shore and bathed off those rocks over there.’
He assisted his guest to alight, made fast the boat, and led the way up a steep path.
‘Don’t suppose we’ll meet any one,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘Nobody here in April-except for Easter. Doesn’t matter if we do. I’m on good terms with my neighbours. Sun’s glorious today. Might be summer. It was a wonderful day then. More like July than September.
‘You must reconstruct it for me by your explanations.’
‘I’ll do my best. I wish you could have seen it in the old days. It was one of the loveliest properties I know.’
He led the way out through the window and began walking down a slope of lawn.
‘Who was responsible for selling it?’
‘The executors on behalf of the child. Everything Crale had came to her. He hadn’t made a will, so I imagine that it would be divided automatically between his wife and the child. Caroline’s will left what she had to the child also.’
‘Nothing to her half-sister?’
‘Angela had a certain amount of money of her own left her by her father.’
Poirot nodded. ‘I see.’
Then he uttered an exclamation:
‘But where is it that you take me? This is the seashore ahead of us!’
‘Ah, I must explain our geography to you. You’ll see for yourself in a minute. There’s a creek, you see, Camel Creek, they call it, runs inland-looks almost like a river mouth, but it isn’t-it’s just sea. To get to Alderbury by land you have to go right inland and round the creek, but the shortest way from one house to the other is to row across this narrow bit of the creek. Alderbury is just opposite-there, you can see the house through the trees.’
They had come out on a little beach. Opposite them was a wooded headland and a white house could just be distinguished high up amongst the trees.
Two boats were drawn up on the beach. Meredith Blake, with Poirot’s somewhat awkward assistance, dragged one of them down to the water and presently they were rowing across to the other side.
‘We always went this way in the old days,’ Meredith explained. ‘Unless, of course, there was a storm or it was raining, and then we’d take the car. But it’s nearly three miles if you go round that way.’
He ran the boat neatly alongside a stone quay on the other side. He cast a disparaging eye on a collection of wooden huts and some concrete terraces.
‘All new, this. Used to be a boathouse-tumbledown old place-and nothing else. And one walked along the shore and bathed off those rocks over there.’
He assisted his guest to alight, made fast the boat, and led the way up a steep path.
‘Don’t suppose we’ll meet any one,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘Nobody here in April-except for Easter. Doesn’t matter if we do. I’m on good terms with my neighbours. Sun’s glorious today. Might be summer. It was a wonderful day then. More like July than September.